As you may have guessed from my last post, I like trains very much. A recent commenter sent me a link to this lovely poem and I could not resist sharing it here.
I have found, as I've mused by the river, that trains and barges have a lot on common. Please watch for an upcoming post but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy this short poem.
Adlestrop
Yes. I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop—only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.